"Straaaaliiaa"

Days here are really starting to blend together. Last Tuesday was Helen's birthday. Megan, Sam and I made her a cake during the day, and then that night the four of us and Amy went to a sushi restaurant (I got a tofu roll and a chicken teriyaki one) and then to the movies. We ate the cake afterwards, which was delicious! Wednesday I went to Alex Heads beach by myself because I didn't have classes. Then Thursday we went to Friday's, which has kind of become our tradition.

 I played around with the special effects on my camera- this one was fish eye!

Toy Camera Effect!

B, me, Megan, Amy, and Helen

Friday a big group of us went to Mooloolaba beach. The water looked even prettier than usual and we all had a great time! Then later that night Megan, Eli and I did the Insanity workout for my first time. It was intense but I did the whole thing and it was actually pretty fun!

Meg getting splashed by a wave!

Friday night Meg, Sam, Andrea, Eli, Stefan, and Alex (both from Norway) played board games, which was really fun. Then Saturday Amy and I went to Mat's rugby game. We had a hard time figuring out which field he was playing on because there are a lot of fields here, but we eventually found the right one. We sat in a room with a huge glass window looking out over the field. I had only seen one rugby game before that, and it was an App State women's game, so it was really interesting to watch (I personally like it more than football- it's better for my horrible attention span because it doesn't stop every five seconds so I don't have time to get distracted haha). Sadly the USC Spartans lost, but it was still a great game! 

 Passed by some kangaroos on campus on our way home!

Sunday Megan, Sam, Eli, Erick and I went to Noosa. There was supposed to be a food and music festival, so we asked a bunch of people where it was and still never found it. We made it to a farmer's market kind of place, but it was closing right when we got there. So after a few hours of walking around (we even took another bus) looking for the festival, we gave up (we're pretty sure it was far away from where we were). While everyone went to get lunch, I checked out some of the shops along the main road in Noosa (I ate a ton of food before we left our apartment just so I wouldn't have to waste money on food). Then us girls went to the beach while Erick headed back home and Eli went to get his hair cut. We had so much fun!

 This pelican was HUGEEEE

 Me and Megan! :)

 I had my first meat pie! These are really popular here- this one had chicken in it and it was really tasty!

 Noosa Beach!

 After I got soaking wet from a wave!

 Paradise!

 Megan running from a wave- still got soaking wet!

 Megan and Sam showing off their drenched dresses!

The sunset on the bus ride home was beautiful, as always!

Sunday night (I think) Sam and I watched Avatar for my first time. Absolutely positively LOVED it! Such a fantastic movie! Then on Monday I was supposed to go on my integrated marine systems class field trip to Fraser Island, but it was postponed because of a problem with the van we were supposed to take. I was so bummed! That meant I didn't have any classes on Monday though, which was nice.

Tuesday night I hung out with B, Amy, Helen and Meg. B works at a cosmetics store so she gets a lot of free stuff and has a ton of nail polish, so she painted my nails. Then we watched Princess and the Frog, which is such a cute movie!

This past Wednesday I went to Mooloolaba beach and met up with Pat, Mat, Jason and Aaron (all Aussie except for Mat). It was so nice to just chill out with the guys. They kicked and threw around the rugby ball while I watched, then had a jumping contest, and then Aaron and I went swimming. After we left the beach we went to Wooly's (Woolworths- the grocery store). 

 Pato!

 Aaron!

 Mat! The sand is from Jason throwing it at him haha

 Aaron and Jason!

 Before this my camera got splashed (it's waterproof, so no worries!) so sadly the picture is blurry 

Pat, me, Jason, Mat, and Aaron

That night I was in a bit of a bad mood and so B told me to come over and I did. They opened the freezer and there were four Dr. Peppers (they know how much I love it and how frustrated I am that they're so hard to find around here). They had also gotten a candy called Bueno that I hadn't tried before. It was SOOOOO delicious! I'll post a picture I got online of one. They had also rented the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which is one of my favorite shows. It was so sweet of B and Amy and it really made my night! 

(http://candyaddict.com/blog/candy_pictures/kinder_bueno_bite.jpg)

Bueno sure is bueno! Haha

Last night was Thursday, so of course we went to Friday's. A bunch of people came to our apartment before we left and we all played cards and had a great time! 

Megan's face in this cracks me up!!!

I've been running pretty often recently, and it's been amazing. Running on the path right outside my apartment is incomparable to running on the indoor track at App. I run around 5pm so that I can catch the sunset, which is always so beautiful. Today I took my camera with me on my run and stopped to take pictures along the way...

 I took these two photos a few days ago after my run- this is essentially my front yard! The buildings in the back are USC!

 There are SO many ponds!

 This little guy (well, not that little!) wouldn't let me get a good picture of him!

 So many ducks (and other birds) everywhere!

 I do ab workouts as I watch the sunset by the pond! Thought this picture came out kind of cool!

 More birds!

 It was too dark by this point to get a decent picture, but this is a little skate park by the path. There are also a bunch of work out stations along the path, which is pretty awesome!

 "This land is environmentally sensitive and a protected sanctuary for wildlife…. the animals on this land are wild. Extreme care should be taken when near animals…" so cool!

So as you can tell, I'm still loving it here in "Straaaaaaliaa" (how the Aussies say Australia- I joke around with my Aussie friends and really exaggerate the pronunciation haha). Amy and I are going to talk to a travel agent soon about our two week long spring break, which is just a few weeks away, so hopefully I'll have an update on that next time I write a post. Next week I have my first paper due. I'm having a horrible time trying to write it- it's about the dualism of nature and culture, which doesn't sound bad but it feels nearly impossible for me to figure out what to write. Then on Thursday Helen, Amy and I leave for our surf trip to Spot X and Byron Bay- SOOOOOOOO excited!!! And my birthday is a week and a few days away, so I'm getting excited for that too! So much excitement woohoooo!!!

Love and miss you all bunches and bunches!